Review: The Young and the Submissive (The Doms of Her Life #2) by by Shayla Black, Jenna Jacob, Isabella LaPearl

Title: The Young and the Submissive (The Doms of Her Life #2)
Author: Shayla Black, Jenna Jacob, Isabella LaPearl
Genre: Erotic Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: October 29th 2013
Reviewed by: Ollie

Rating - 3
Sexual - 5

Raine Kendall has everything a woman could want…almost. Sexy, tender Dom Liam O’Neill is her knight in shining armor, but Raine is constantly pinching herself. Is he too good to be true or is this growing connection one that could last a lifetime? She’s constantly torn by her abiding feelings for her commanding boss, Macen “Hammer” Hammerman, especially in the wake the mind-blowing night he cast aside the barriers between them and ravaged every inch of her body.

Hammer, Liam’s former best friend, can’t stop coveting Raine. But Liam is determined to hold and guide the woman he loves and see if she can be the submissive of his dreams. However, he’s finding that her trust is hard won and he needs a bloody crowbar to pry open her scarred soul. So he risks everything to win her once and for all. But once he’s put his daring plan in motion, will it cost Liam his heart if he loses Raine to Hammer for good?

Ok I gave in and decided to read book 2 of Doms of her Life despite how the first book ended with me feeling let down. Sometimes you see a train wreck and you can't help to look and find out what is happening and with these characters I couldn't look away from these train wrecked people and I wish I did.

Book 2 continues where Book 1 left off with Raine trying to sort out her feelings for the two men in her life who have come to mean so much to her. Unfortunately, she is unable to see that her inability to give herself completely to either one of them is tearing the men apart from the inside out.

The issue that I continue to have with Raine is she has these two men who are trying to help her to get over her barriers and help her be able to “submit” and become a submissive, but I don't see her as being a submissive at all. I see Raine as an immature woman who is confused and doesn't have the maturity to know what is involved to be in a committed relationship as she continues to break their trust and commitments made. Again I don't feel that she is trying to “train” to be a submissive or wants to be a submissive, just wants to get what she wants.

By the time I reached the end of the book, I had to force myself to finish it as I felt Raine's selfish needs were all about her and did not take into consideration the two men's feelings and how much it was tearing them apart. As Doms I can see how they are trying to take care of her “needs” but in return a submissive obtains pleasure is seeing the pleasure that she gives to a Dom for giving up her gift of control to him. In this case it is not reciprocal because it leaves one of the Dom's questioning his ability to take care of her needs and his difficulty in dealing with the pain building in his heart.

Book 2 is another one of those books that makes me question should I continue with book 3 as the book ends without a happily ever after or even a happy for now. Again the inconsistencies in what the characters say and do in one part of the book to the other leaves me frustrated at times though I don't think in a good way.

Review: The Young and the Submissive (The Doms of Her Life #2) by by Shayla Black, Jenna Jacob, Isabella LaPearl

Title: One Dom to Love (The Doms of Her Life #1)
Author: Shayla Black, Jenna Jacob, Isabella LaPearl Genre: Erotic Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: October 29th 2013
Reviewed by: Ollie

Rating - 3
Sexual - 5

Raine Kendall has everything a woman could want…almost. Sexy, tender Dom Liam O’Neill is her knight in shining armor, but Raine is constantly pinching herself. Is he too good to be true or is this growing connection one that could last a lifetime? She’s constantly torn by her abiding feelings for her commanding boss, Macen “Hammer” Hammerman, especially in the wake the mind-blowing night he cast aside the barriers between them and ravaged every inch of her body.

Hammer, Liam’s former best friend, can’t stop coveting Raine. But Liam is determined to hold and guide the woman he loves and see if she can be the submissive of his dreams. However, he’s finding that her trust is hard won and he needs a bloody crowbar to pry open her scarred soul. So he risks everything to win her once and for all. But once he’s put his daring plan in motion, will it cost Liam his heart if he loses Raine to Hammer for good?

Ok I gave in and decided to read book 2 of Doms of Her Life despite how the first book ended with me feeling let down. Sometimes you see a train wreck and you can't help to look and find out what is happening and with these characters I couldn't look away from these train wrecked people and I wish I did.

Book 2 continues where Book 1 left off with Raine trying to sort out her feelings for the two men in her life who have come to mean so much to her. Unfortunately, she is unable to see that her inability to give herself completely to either one of them is tearing the men apart from the inside out.

The issue that I continue to have with Raine is she has these two men who are trying to help her to get over her barriers and help her be able to “submit” and become a submissive, but I don't see her as being a submissive at all. I see Raine as an immature woman who is confused and doesn't have the maturity to know what is involved to be in a committed relationship as she continues to break their trust and commitments made. Again I don't feel that she is trying to “train” to be a submissive or wants to be a submissive, just wants to get what she wants.

By the time I reached the end of the book, I had to force myself to finish it as I felt Raine's selfish needs were all about her and did not take into consideration the two men's feelings and how much it was tearing them apart. As Doms I can see how they are trying to take care of her “needs” but in return a submissive obtains pleasure is seeing the pleasure that she gives to a Dom for giving up her gift of control to him. In this case it is not reciprocal because it leaves one of the Dom's questioning his ability to take care of her needs and his difficulty in dealing with the pain building in his heart.

Book 2 is another one of those books that makes me question should I continue with book 3 (The Bold and the Dominant) as the book ends without a happily ever after or even a happy for now. Again the inconsistencies in what the characters say and do in one part of the book to the other leaves me frustrated at times though I don't think in a good way.

Review: One Dom to Love (The Doms of Her Life #1) by Shayla Black, Jenna Jacob, Isabella LaPearl

Title: One Dom to Love (The Doms of Her Life #1)
Author: Shayla Black, Jenna Jacob, Isabella LaPearl Genre: Erotic Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: December 4th 2012
Reviewed by: Ollie

Rating - 3
Sexual - 5

Raine Kendall has been in love with her boss, Macen Hammerman, for years. Determined to make the man notice that she’s a grown woman with desires and needs, she pours out her heart and offers her body to him—only to be crushingly rejected. But when his friend, very single, very sexy Liam O’Neill watches the other Dom refuse to act on his obvious feelings for Raine, he resolves to step in and do whatever it takes to help Hammer find happiness again, even rousing his friend’s possessive instincts by making the girl a proposition too tempting to refuse. But he never imagines that he’ll end up falling for her himself.

Hammer has buried his lust for Raine for years. After rescuing the budding runaway from an alley behind his exclusive BDSM Dungeon, he has come to covet the pretty submissive. But tragedy has taught him that he can never be what she needs. So he watches over her while struggling to keep his distance. Liam’s crafty plan blindsides Hammer, especially when he sees how determined his friend is to possess Raine for his own. Hammer isn’t ready to give the lovely submissive over to any other Dom, but can he heal from his past and fight for her? Or will he lose Raine if she truly gives herself—heart, body, and soul—to Liam?

When I read the blurb I was really looking forward to reading this book because I felt a real deep connection to female character and felt the turmoil she would be going through the the unrequited love theme, but as I read the book couldn't help myself feeling closer to the Doms and the struggles and barriers they fought through. Be warned this book is not for the faint at heart and will draw a lot of emotions out of the reader.

I am going to be honest I had a difficult time rating this book because there were times the characters really pissed me off and hated them. Whether that makes it a 5 star rating because of the emotions it drew out of me or a 3 stars because I found the author contradicting the characters in various parts of the story or the reasoning made no sense.

Raine is a young woman who has been holding onto a crush on Hammer since he rescued her and took her in, but she wants him to see her as a woman and be his everything. Hammer on the other hand, has been secretly in love with her and instead of finally letting her know now that she is old enough (23) he treats her like a sister because he is afraid she couldn't fulfill all his needs. Now here is where I have a problem with the story. When Liam takes interest in Raine and “claims” her as his Hammer goes ballistic claiming she is his and she is the only woman who makes him feel alive and completes him. Yet throughout the book he claims he doesn't want her because he will not be complete because she will not be able to give him what he wants (Master/slave, total power exchange). Well which is it? Believe me at first I really liked Hammer, but as the story progressed his attitude really got on my nerves and he lost his appeal to me.

Then we have Raine who has, for the first time in her life, an amazing relationship developing with Liam and she knows it and yet she still fights it and destroys it. Yes, I know she has baggage which is affecting her ability to appreciate what she has with Liam and what he is offering to give her, but her inability to open up herself really made me wonder if she really wanted to be a submissive because it would complete her or that is a only role she should be shaped into.

In the end I really felt for Liam and all his heartfelt feelings were being cast aside because of Raine's indecisiveness. Yes, we hear about taking care of her needs and doing what is best for her because that is what a Dom does for his submissive, but the key thing that I felt was missing is a submissive does things because it makes her happy to please her Dom and yet all I kept reading was the misery in between the sexy times which seemed one-sided.

In the end I have to say that the sexy times did help to make up for the parts that drove me crazy, but were not able to extinguish them as the heartaches would pop up right after the fun.